Vision effective cutting and marking die

ABSTRACT

A combination cutting and marking die for materials such as leather, having marker portions specially mounted to the cutter portions with a resilient transparent polymeric material enabling the operator to rapidly cut and mark areas free of defects with total material observation.

United States Patent Panter et a1. 1 Oct. 17, 1972 VISION EFFECTIVECUTTING AND 178,845 6/1876 Gahr ..69/2 MARKING DIE 2,116,364 5/1938 Reed..83/652 3,459,090 8/1969 Prew ..83/652 [72] a'g' f g f 2,970,539 2/1961Griffin ..l0l/368 Kaem m f 5: h 3,063,371 11/1962 Lowell et a1...101/368 P a 753,740 3/1904 Rockstroh ..101 30 731 Assignee: Wolverineworld wid 1,738,599 12/1929 Mertiriz ..83/656 Rockford, Mi h. 2,231,8552/1941 Stoddard et a1. ..83/652 221 Filed: June 4, 1970 FOREIGN PATENTSOR APPLICATIONS [211 App]. No.: 43,505 444,581 3/1936 Great Britain..83/652 [52] U.S. CI. ..12/52.5, 69/2, 83/652, 101/368 [51] Int. Cl...B26f 1/46 [58] Field of Search ..101/30, 368; 69/2; 83/656, 83/697,652

[56] I References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,097,247 5/1914 Lund..12/52.5 2,124,591 7/1938 Ryan ..l ..12/52.5 3,469,488 9/1969 Gaspari..'...83/652 Primary Examiner-Robert E. Pulfrey AssistantExaminer-Clifford D. Crowder Att0mey-Price, Heneveld, l-luizenga andCooper 57 ABSTRACT A combination cutting and marking die for materialssuch as leather, having marker portions specially mounted to the cutterportions with a resilient transparent polymeric material enabling theoperator to rapidly cut and mark areas free of defects with totalmaterial observation.

1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figures VISION EFFECTIVE CUTTING AND MARKING DIEBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to combinationcutting and marking dies, and more particularly to such having specialintermounting therebetween.

Manufacture of products, such as shoes, from leather or the likeinvolves cutting of the leather into blanks of appropriate sizes andconfiguration, and marking of the leather surface, as by indenting, forguidance in subsequent operations. Combination cutting and marking dieshave been developed for simultaneously performing both types ofoperations with one stroke of a press. Effective operation of such unitsfor thousands upon thousands of repetitive press strokes is dependentheavily upon the mounting between the cutting die portions and themarking die portions. Also, for quality blanks to be repeatedly,rapidly, and most efficiently made, complete and constant observation ofthe leather areas should be possible for quick spotting of blemish areasto enable accurate, rapid positioning of the die.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to provide anovel cutting and marking die that combines the characteristics ofeffective cooperative intermounting between the marking die portions andcutting die portions, and optimum viewing of the leather or othermaterial being worked upon.

Since this invention was conceived relative to shoe manufacture fromleather it will largely bev explained in that context. However, theconcept could be employed in other similar areas.

The novelstructure has a special marking die mounting to the cutting dieportions, with a transparent resilient polymeric interconnection andsupport bonded to these portions around embedded anchors.

These and other objects and features of the device, will be apparentfrom the following specification and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRlPTlON OF THE DRAWINGS H6. 1 is a plan view of the novelcombination cutting and marking die, shown in one particularconfiguration;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken on plane ll-ll of HG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a piece of material such as leather afterhaving been operated on by the novel die.

DESCRlPTlON OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now specifically tothe drawings, the combination cutting and marking die there shownincludes a peripheral cutting element 12 and a marking element 14,interconnected by a special body 16.

0 14' is generally blunt or dull, although it may be honed Cuttingelement 12 defines a selected configuration for forming a blank, forexample for one part of a shoe, from a piece of leather L. Obviously theover-all configuration of this peripheral element will vary greatlydepending upon the article to be made. The lower edge 12' of element 12is a sharp cutting edge (HO. 2) lying in one plane. Preferably, theopposite edge 12" of eleto a small enough width to form an effectivemarker. This lower edge 14' also lies in a common plane recessed fromand parallel to the plane of cutting edge 12'. Hence, edge 14' is spacedfrom the leather when cutting edge 12' first engages the leather.Pressure on the die causes cutting edge 12' to be forced into theleather, at which point marking edge 14' engages the leather. Furtherpressure shifts edge 12' further into the leather, causing marking edge14 to indent the leather. Further pressure forcing edge 12' through theleather results in marking edge 14 not shifting, due to the resistanceof the leather to its further movement. At this time, therefore, edge14' relatively shifts slightly further away from the plane of cuttingedge 12'. This is accommodated by having marking element 14 mounted toelement 12 with a limited resiliency of body 16.

Body 16 interconnects element 12 and 14. in the invention, body 16comprises a polymericv material which is molded in place in the die,anchoring the elements together, bonding to the inside peripheralsurfaces of element 12 and the opposite side surface areas of element14. In this particular embodiment illustrated, the polymeric body isformed generally in two parts, one on each side of element 14. It isimportant that this polymeric material be transparent. This enablesblemishes such as X (FIGS. 1 and 2) to be immediately and constantlyobserved, whether under the die or not, thereby enabling the operator toquickly and repeatedly position the die for high speed cutting of blanksfrom the leather material, and obtain top quality blanks withoutblemishes. This transparent polymeric material, which is preferably asilicon rubber or alternatively a material such as clear polyvinylchloride or the equivalent, is molded in place with its upper and lowersurfaces being recessed considerably from both cutting edge 12 andmarking edge 14. lt bonds to the side edges of elements 12 and 14, andembeds anchor protrusions 12a and 14a projecting laterally from elements12 and 14 respectively.

In operation therefore, the novel die 10 is manually positioned by amachine operator over the leather L, with the operator viewing theentire leather area around the die, and also beneath it by observing theleather through the transparent resilient body 16. Hence, if the blemishX is spotted beneath the die as shown at X in FIG; 1, in phantom lines,the die is rapidly shifted to a position where the blemish is outsidethe die. Then the press (not shown) is activated to engage the top ofthe die and force cutting edge 12' part way downwardly into the leather,at which time marking edge 14' engages it. Further lowering of the presscauses cutting edge 12 to sever the periphery of the blank B whileimpressing mark B into the leather blank. At the end of the stroke, themarking die, after forming the indent, has a relative movement withrespect to the cutting die, through the resiliency of body 16. v I

It will be apparent to those in the art that various details ofconstruction may be modified within the atom cept presented, to suitparticular manufacturing operations, materials being cut and marked, andthe like. Hence, it is intended that the invention is to be limited onlyby the scope of the appended claims and reasonable equivalents thereto.

The embodiments of the invention in which exclusive property orprivilege if claimed are defined as follows.

1. A die for cutting and marking material comprising,

in combination: a peripheral configurated cutting ele- 4 the plane ofsaid cutting edge; said cutting element and marking element beinginterconnected by a polymeric material bonded thereto, said polymericmaterial being transparent, enabling viewing therethrough of amaterialto be cut and marked, and having limited resiliency, enablinglimited movement of said marking element relative to said cuttingelement whereby the recess between said cutting and marking edgeincreases during cutting after said marking edge engages said materialbeing cut and marked, said cutting element and said marking elementincluding anchor projections extending therefrom towards said spacetherewithin, said polymeric material being molded in place in the dieand embedding said anchor projections therein.

' a a =t=

1. A die for cutting and marking material comprising, in combination: aperipheral configurated cutting element defining a space therewithin andhaving a coplanar cutting edge, and a marking element within said spacehaving a marking edge recessed slightly from the plane of said cuttingedge; said cutting element and marking element being interconnected by apolymeric material bonded thereto, said polymeric material beingtransparent, enabling viewing therethrough of a material to be cut andmarked, and having limited resiliency, enabling limited movement of saidmarking element relative to said cutting element whereby the recessbetween said cutting and marking edge increases during cutting aftersaid marking edge engages said material being cut and marked, saidcutting element and said marking element including anchor projectionsextending therefrom towards said space therewithin, said polymericmaterial being molded in place in the die and embedding said anchorprojections therein.